Menswear Trends Spotted on the Street

With the autumnal turn in the air, layers returning and a general feeling of the summer’s intensity abating, we’re once again able to play with textural pieces that are frankly only appropriate once the temperature drops below 70 degrees.

Historically, this sort of texture has been reserved for the obvious cold-weather players — chunky knits, corduroy, shearling and suede — but this season it feels broader, with tactile fabrics being used to give even the simplest looks a little more depth.

More specifically, the slogans on the sort of hat that feels as though it has a story attached to it: a faded logo, a tourist-shop reference, a destination emblazoned across the front. They introduce a little irreverence without demanding too much attention. The best examples feel personal rather than precious — the kind of hat you might have picked up somewhere years ago and have somehow found their way into the rotation.

Few menswear pieces have travelled through quite as many subcultures as the plaid shirt. Punk, grunge, Americana, prep, workwear — it has belonged to all of them at one point or another, which is perhaps why its return feels less like the revival of a particular aesthetic and more like the return of an icon.

From broad rugby-style bands to finer Breton references, horizontal stripes are showing up across knitwear, polos and long-sleeved tops, often worn underneath jackets or layered over shirts. They have the useful quality of making an otherwise straightforward outfit feel considered without requiring much styling — a fact that may explain why they keep turning up, season after season, on the people who seem to have got dressed without trying too hard.